Perfectly behaved children help Blackpool school land ‘good’ Ofsted rating

Determined teachers, perfectly behaved children, and a broad and balanced curriculum helped a Blackpool primary school score ‘good’ following its inspection.

Stanley Primary School, in Wordsworth Avenue, was praised for making sure youngsters make good progress, with education watchdog Ofsted handing out its second-best score for a second time running.

Lead inspector Doris Bell said in her report: “The warm, positive relationships that teachers form with their pupils, and the pupils with each other, underpin the good learning that takes place in this school.”

Senior teachers have taken action since the last inspection in 2014, when the school was also ‘good’, to improve teaching in a wide range of subjects, while they and governors also found to “know the school well”.

“Good teaching is ensuring improvements are sustainable and pupils make good progress”, the report said. Staff “make sure pupils use their reading and maths skills in different subjects”.

Children are safe, their behaviour is “exemplary”, and “almost all parents and carers ... are very satisfied with the school and the progress their children are making”.

To improve to the top rank of outstanding, Stanley must now cut out inconsistencies in the teaching of reading, give youngsters more chances to write at length in some subjects, and ensure teachers interact with pupils more.

Headteacher Craig England said he was proud “the behaviour of our pupils has been recognised as being outstanding, and that the good work of all children and staff has been recognised again”.